| SONG 1 |
Drayton indicates his joint topographical and historical
purpose
by dual invocations. He calls on the local genius of the island to
guide
his Muse in her travels. Then he asks for an infusion of the spirit of
the
ancient British bards, the first preservers of history on the island.
The
topographical survey begins with the miscellaneous island possessions
of
England in the seas to the south and then proceeds to Cornwall and
Devonshire
at the southwestern corner of England. The first personified natural
objects
to speak are St. Michael's Mount (lamenting changes in nature and in
human
affairs) and the impudent Hayle River (boasting her beauties). There
follows
the first long survey of rivers and countryside, which contains brief
references
to the death of King Arthur on the shores of the Camel and to the
peculiar
skills of Cornish wrestlers. The career of Brutus, legendary founder of
Britain,
is narrated by the Dart River, for Brutus supposedly landed at Totnes
in
the mouth of the Dart. Since this episode supposedly inaugurates the
civilized
history of England, the narrative reaches back to the first of the
series
of events that brought Brutus to Albion: the burning of Troy and
Aeneas'
escape. Brutus was the great-grandson of Aeneas, and through a series
of
misfortunes and glorious achievements he brings a band of Trojans to
the
giant-inhabited island. His captain, Corineus, overcomes in single and
decisive
combat the greatest giant and is named first Duke of Cornwall. A chorus
of
rivers (whose names are listed) praises Dart for the recital of these
events. |
| SONG 2 |
Drayton's Muse moves on to Dorset and Hampshire, as he
promises to vary his poetry in accordance with the landscape. The first
half of the song surveys the rivers and forests, interspersing
lamentations over the ruins of time and stories of the amatory
experiences of personified rivers. The River Stour remembers ancient
prophecies of conquests by a series of races. The conquest of William
the Norman, who landed on these coasts, is particularly remembered, and
New Forest boasts of its founding at that time. The Itchen River tells
at length the exploits of Bevis of Southampton, in spite of objections
that they are incredible and irrelevant to the earlier "British cause"
on the Muse's mind at this point. At the coast, English ports and sea
power are
praised. The forests of the region sing farewell to the Muse, asking
sympathy
for their losses in modern times. |
| SONG 3 |
The Muse takes wing to Wiltshire and Somerset, opening the
song with a rousing praise of the horses and hounds of the area. Then
begins a series of conflicts between personified places, each seeking
recognition of its own superiority: first Wansdyke versus Stonehenge
(competing "wonders"), then
the River Wiley versus the Avon (reconciled by a common jealousy of the
Avon
River of Somerset), and finally a general conflict of forests versus
plains.
A survey is made of the environs of Bath, comparing it to a rich man's
house.
In contrast to the conflicts, Ochy (Wookey) hole and the "Isle" of
Avalon
exchange sympathy over their misfortunes, for the cave is not counted
among
the wonders of England and Avalon exhibits only the ruins of the Abbey
of
Glastonbury and Arthur's neglected tomb. A short reference to Camelot
is
included in the survey that ends the song. |
| SONG 4 |
In this song the first climax of Poly-Olbion is reached in a
dramatic combination of history and topography. A singing contest takes
place on the
banks of the Severn Estuary. The contestants are the rivers pouring in
from
the English and Welsh banks. The prize is the Isle of Lundy in the
middle of the channel of the Severn, who is to judge whether the island
should
belong to Wales or to England. After elaborate preparations, the Welsh
rivers
present their case, singing of British Arthur's triumphs and Merlin's
magic.
The English rivers answer with the glorious German ancestry of the
Saxon
and also the Norman kings of England, showing their historical and
genealogical
relationship. As they try to continue with English victories in battle,
the
Welsh mountains frown and threaten war at the unfair length of the
English
song. Severn stops the debate at this point. In this dramatic song
Drayton
still manages to describe, through his personifications, the
outstanding
natural features of parts of several Welsh and English counties
(Monmouthshire,
Brecknockshire, Glamorgan, Somerset, and Devonshire). |
| SONG 5 |
The first section of this song contains Severn's judgment on
the
ownership of Lundy. She decides that the island belongs equally to both
sides, since the Tudor dynasty has restored the ancient British line to
the throne of England and joined it with the Saxon-Norman. She also
refers,
in an all-embracing spirit of reconciliation, to Henry VII's union of
the
red rose and the white and to James I's union of the three realms,
which
had never been one since the death of Brutus. The rest of the song is a
survey of Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire: with special mention of
Merlin
and doubts about spirits; the Dutch/Flemish in Wales; Milford Haven and
falcons; and St. David. [Drayton departed in this song from the route
taken
in his major topographical source, Camden's Britannia. Camden started
with
the southwestern counties but went on to southeastern England, a west
to
east movement conventional in geographic description. Drayton's detour
through
Wales is understandable by reference to his historical and
chronological
ordering of the poem. Devonshire and Cornwall were associated with the
landing
of Brutus and the earliest British "history." The locale for the next
period
of history and the area most closely associated with British
partisanship
was Wales.] |
| SONG 6 |
In three central Welsh counties, praise is given to the Tivy
(Teifi) River for its salmon and (regionally extinct) beavers; and to
Mt. Plinlimmon for its prominence and symbolic leadership of the
landscape of Wales. A neighboring
mountain then tells the old legend of the metamorphosis of Sabrina
(daughter
of Locrine, granddaughter of Brutus) into the Severn River. A survey
along
the Wye valley introduces a song in praise of the Britons: The Wye
first
mentions the learning of the druidic priests, the invincibility and
patriotism
of the Britons, and the skill of the ancient bards. She considers the
value
of mixing fiction with truth in historical literature, praises the
bards
for preserving ancient records, discounts the reliability of Roman
historians,
and berates the "Precisians" of later days who want to discard the
entire
Arthurian history. A survey along the Severn mentions the fine horses
of
the region. |
| SONG 7 |
The Muse briefly returns east to England, to the area north
of the Severn containing parts of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and
Worcestershire. [Drayton admits that this area is English, but he
includes it with Wales because
he is trying to "uphold her auncient bounds, Severne, and Dee" (Works,
IV,
vii*).] The Severn Estuary is described metaphorically and
naturalistically, and Dean Forest mythologically. Malvern hill speaks
in praise of mountains at the expense of valleys. The topography of
rivers, hills, and valleys is particularized by local products and by
both classical and invented myths. Another lament over the spoiling of
a forest closes the survey. |
| SONG 8 |
The Muse travels to the part of Shropshire west of the
Severn, another part of England that was formerly Welsh. Severn speaks
for the ancient boundaries and asserts her right to relate the history
of the Britons. She begins with Camber, the son of Brutus, and carries
the story up to the time of the Saxon invasion and King Arthur,
mentioning especially British conquests on the
continent, the Roman invasion of Britain, and the Christianization of
the
Britons. This history takes up all but a few lines of the song, and the
deferred
survey of the region is quickly made as the rivers in western
Shropshire
praise Severn and as the Shropshire hills renew a pledge of loyalty and
love
for Wales. |
| SONG 9 |
The farthest reaches of Wales are now visited,
Merionethshire, Carnarvonshire, and the Isle of Anglesey. The emphasis
in this song is on mountains, for the mountains of this area were the
last refuge for the Britons at the lowest ebb of their fortunes. First
the obstinacy of the Welsh in keeping their
ancient laws is praised. Then, after a short survey of rivers, mountain
nymphs
sing of the virtues of the hills and their flocks of goats, made safe
from
wolves by an early Saxon king. They are answered immediately by envious
water
nymphs who compare mountains unfavorably to lakes. Mt. Snowdon becomes
aware
of this dispute, stops it, and, to reconcile the two sides, sings the
praises of the British princes who defended Wales against the Saxons
and Normans. He ends his song with a note on the historical
reconciliation of the Welsh and the English: mentioning the trick by
which Edward I forced the Welsh
to accept his son as their king and, once again, referring to the union
of
the realms under the Welsh House of Tudor. The Isle of Anglesey [or
Mona,
for Drayton prefers the old British name] recounts her natural beauties
and
the rites of the druids who formerly inhabited her woods. |
SONG
10
|
In Denbighshire the Muse first visits the River Conway,
associated with the prophecies of Merlin. The vale of Dyfferen Clwyd
(on the Clwyd River) then becomes an object of jealous affection for
the North Wind and Mt. Moylevennil (Foel Fenlli). There is an extended
scene of competitive wooing, in which the mountain also recalls the
metamorphosis of St. Winifred's Well. In Flintshire the Hills of Yale
modestly compare the Valley of the Cross with the Dyfferen Clwyd. The
River Dee, famous for prophecy, in a discussion similar to that by the
Wye in Song 6, defends the legend of Brutus (the Wye mentioned only
Arthur). The Dee asserts the integrity of Geoffrey of Monmouth and the
priority and accuracy of the tradition handed down by the British bards
as opposed to the foreign and prejudiced Roman histories, on the basis
of the argument for the necessity of accepting oral traditions from
primitive periods. But the Muse has long neglected England and now
comes to Chester. |
| SONG 11 |
After a promise that, "With as unwearied wings," the Muse
will tour England and hear the historical case for the Saxons, there is
praise for the stereotypical, feudal English virtues of the people of
Cheshire. The topographic
features of the county appear in an extended survey, with
personifications, borrowings of classical mythology, and sexual or
other rivalries. In the midst of the survey, the Weaver boasts its
superiority over all Welsh rivers, especially over the Dee as a
prophet. The longest part of Song 11 is Weaver's praise of the Saxon
kings, specifically through claims of noble ancestry and
for the monuments many left to religion and learning. The position of
advocate
for the Saxons then passes to Wrekin Hill, who wishes to answer the
Welsh
mountains in the next song, on the point of martial valor. |
| SONG 12 |
Wrekin, to show the Saxons comparable in valor to the
Britons, recounts not the Saxon victories over Britons but the Saxon
defense of England against Danish invaders. The speech has two extended
narratives, the victory of Guy
of Warwick over Colbrand and the seesaw conflict between Edmund
Ironsides and Knute the Dane. The Knute episode ends the speech on a
note of reconciliation, as that war ended in a stalemate and a peace
treaty. The topography of Staffordshire in the Midlands follows, in an
especially interconnected survey, perhaps
because it was familiar ground to Drayton: various sources of the Trent
River
flow by two forests, the Moorland and Tixall (the ancient seat of his
patron
Sir Walter Aston). |
| SONG 13 |
Several readers of Poly-Olbion have expressed delight at
Drayton's description of Warwickshire, "the hart of England . . . My
Native Country." Opening personal comments and supreme praise for Arden
Forest are followed by four set pieces, with very little of the usual
connective survey. A long excursion into Arden names its birds,
dramatizes the hunting of deer, and describes the retired life of a
herb-gatherer/hermit. The history of Coventry (with references to
Ursula's virgins and Lady Godiva) is the occasion for a panegyric upon
Ann Goodere, the woman Drayton honored throughout his career. As Guy's
Cliffe is reached, a short song lists Guy of Warwick's famous deeds.
SRed Horse Vale boasts of her good qualities in comparison to those of
other valleys and complains that she has been neglected, "as all noble
things," by "the wretched time." |
| SONG 14 |
Drayton continues with topography in Worcestershire and
Gloucestershire, varying his manner by dramatization, discussion, rapid
survey, and detailed description. A love triangle develops among a
hill, a river, and a forest. The Vale of Evesham speaks in favor of
valleys as opposed to mountains. Evesham
ends the speech with specific advice to Bredon Hill not to compete
ambitiously
with greater mountains but to lead a quiet life in moderation.
Emphasized
in a lengthy survey are the products of the region, especially the
sheep
of Cotswolds (hills that mate with Evesham to bring forth the Isis
River). |
| SONG 15 |
Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire provide the
setting for the wedding of the Isis and the Tame; during the wedding
preparations (the two rivers' approach to each other), Drayton manages
to mention many features of the countryside. The first preparatory
event is the comic argument over expenses between the Chiltern-country
(hills) and the Vale of Aylesbury, father and mother respectively of
the bridegroom Tame. The Muses of poetry and learning deliver a
prothalamion at Oxford. The bride and bridegroom are decked with many
flowers, and herbs are strewn about (lists are given of herbs
and flowers). The Cherwell River, wise for flowing beside Oxford,
provides the entertainment for the wedding, a song in praise of rivers
as a class opposed
to hills, valleys, or forests. "The wedding ends," and Thames, "got,
borne,
and bred, immediately doth flowe, / To Windsor-ward" (281-83). |
| SONG 16 |
Along the eastward flow of the Thames, the tributary river
Ver and the ancient Watling Street cross paths near the ruins of the
Monastery of St. Albans. Watling Street asks Ver to explain the changes
time has brought to this area, so Ver speaks sadly of the ruins of the
once glorious shrine and angrily of the present age that allows such
abuses. Watling Street, to change the subject to something more
pleasant, tells of the routes of four great roads of England and at
length of the various Saxon tribes and their respective locations.
Quick boasts about particular virtues come from two hills and a valley.
The River Lea laments the fact that she is no longer navigable;
her tributary, the Stort, makes the consoling observation that change
is
universal and inevitable. As London comes into view, the Muse praises
its
pleasant situation but condemns the wasteful, luxurious commodities
presently being imported. |
| SONG 17 |
Approaching London, the Thames joins with the River Mole.
This is an affair of the heart against the wishes of the parents on
both sides. A
description of the London area introduces a song by the Thames
chronicling the monarchs of England since the Norman Conquest. Each
reign is covered in
a paragraph, and royal character and achievements are judged good or
bad or,
more often, mixed. Leaving Thames, the Muse hears the complaints of the
forests
of Surrey and Sussex. The envious downs, which gain by the decay of the
forests,
laugh at their cries of woe. Such impudence stirs several rivers to a
heated
defense of forests, but the Muse calms them in preparation for the
nobler
matters of the next song. |
| SONG 18 |
In Kent, the isle of Oxney and Romney Marsh show their
rivalry in love for the Rother River. The Andredsweld (Anderida Forest)
then tells of
changes it has known through time. The Medway joins the Thames and
sings at great length in praise of Norman-English warriors (fighting
the French, mostly, but also the Welsh, Scots, and Irish). The Muse
catalogues the agricultural products of Kent. The First Part of
Poly-Olbion closes with the personification of three islands in the
mouth of the Thames--Sheppey, Grain (Greane), and Thanet--as the
daughters of Albion, giant and first possessor of England. |
| SONG 19 |
Drayton ties the opening of the Second Part to the last lines
of
Song 18 by personifying another island of the Thames as a daughter of
Albion: Canvey (Cauney) on the north bank. The poet tells the Muse his
preference for the country over the city, and the Muse begins to move
up through the eastern counties of Essex and Suffolk. Two forests
consider change and the wisdom of giving place to ungodly and foolish
times, since eventually "folly headlong falls." Rivers boast and
compete, and tell of regional archaelogical evidence of Romans and
ancient giants. At their joint harbor, the rivers Orwell
and Stour unite to glorify English voyagers from Arthur himself to
recent
explorers of the New World (stories from Hakluyt's Principal
Navigations). |
| SONG 20 |
Anticipated at the end of Song 19, the Yare and Waveny Rivers
of
Norfolk bring their tributaries down to the sea at Lovingland
(Lothingland).
A grand mythological festival of waters occurs there, with long
citations
of names from classical myth but also with references to industrious
Dutch
settlers, vegetables grown in England, and the good fishing at
Yarmouth.
Drayton then boasts of his ability to sing on any subject and proceeds
to
prove it with a knowledgeable passage on hawking. Marshland, envious of
the glory of the neighboring Great Ouse River, boasts of itself as the
greatest
marsh in England. |
| SONG 21 |
In Cambridgeshire the Devil's Ditch complains of the neglect
given the ancient dikes of this region. Gogmagog Hill then comically
woos the River Granta in rural dialect. Ringdale Vale enters the
competition for the most beautiful vale in England. For the
entertainment of the muses at Cambridge, the River Cam delivers a
speech that is partly a satire against thieving
mercenary sots who devalue poetry, partly a definition of a good poet
(by
contrast with bad but popular poets), and finally a neo-classic eulogy
of
Cambridge itself. Song 21 parallels 20 both by providing another brief
prelude
to Song 22 and by closing with another boast of supremacy among marshes
(the
"Isle" of Ely). |
| SONG 22 |
A survey of Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire centers on the
Great Ouse, whose course is described in sexual stories including the
metamorphosis of two nymphs into the springs of Harlweston (Hail Weston
Wells). Because the unusual tides of the Ouse had prophesied the
beginning of the Wars of the Roses, she has the honor of singing about
civil-war battles since the Norman Conquest. The multitudinous detail
of this pageant, the longest inset piece in Poly-Olbion (1505 lines),
re-creates without restraint the color, the noise, the horror, and the
glory of military conflict. [Actually, only twenty "well-ordred"
battles are included; those excluded are carefully narrated, but
Drayton names twelve others in apologies that he must "lightly
overpasse" them.] Praiseworthy valor is attributed to all warriors,
even Richard III and the Irish. As the Ouse finishes this catalogue,
she passes a small forest, the remnant of a great wooded area, and
tries to cheer it with the memory of happier days. |
| SONG 23 |
There is a change of mood and a return to topography as the
Muse
comes to Northamptonshire and encounters a forest that has so far
escaped
ruin from the "ravenous Age." Hellidon Hill, from whose sides three
rivers
flow to three seas, summarily describes the surface of England
(excluding
Wales and Scotland) on a winding route that not match the sequence in Poly-Olbion.
Over objections from his springs, who profess more dignity, Hellidon
goes on to list the "Clownish Blazons," popular mottos of each country.
The Muse follows the course of the River Nen, praises Rockingham
Forest, and (after Kelmarsh Plain insists) describes the hunting of
hares with greyhounds. |
| SONG 24 |
The Welland River, approaching Stamford, takes up another
specialized historical subject, the saints of England. [You, or you,
may or may not find
interest in it. Although I appreciate the variable patterns and
transitions (and lines 37-52, 208-215, 271-280, 521-542, and 595-602 in
particular), I confess that I wish Drayton's sources had been less
complete.] Poor little Rutlandshire, the locale for this very long
passage, must wait for the last few (but charming) lines of the song
for any description or praise. |
| SONG 25 |
The region of Holland, boasting her superiority over
classically
known fens and marshes, lists and describes the varieties of her fish
and
birds. Kesteven Vale answers Holland by disparaging marshes and
correspondingly extolling the virtues of plains or valleys, being
herself one of the foremost valleys of England. One of Kesteven's
rivers, the Witham, sings in stanzas about its pleasant mediocrity and
its incomparable pikes. In answer to those three places, the plain of
Lindsey boasts that her own extent and variety can match the best
qualities of any other area of Lincolnshire. |
| SONG 26 |
Topographical competition continues in Nottinghamshire,
Leicestershire, and Derbyshire. The Vale of Bever (Belvoir) matches
herself with previous boasting valleys. The Muse defends the slowness
of the Soar River, by analogy to a young girl visiting a sumptuous
palace for the first time. The Soar praises its Charnwood Forest for
containing all the best features of every other forest. The Trent
River, comparing herself favorably with the Thames and the Severn,
catalogues her fish. Sherwood Forest, in competition with Charnwood,
tells the story of Robin Hood and his bowmen. The Peak, a "withered
Beldam," tells of her seven wonders (caves, wells, a hill of sand, and
a forest)
before the song flows down from the hills along the Darwin (Derwent)
River. |
| SONG 27 |
An extremely lively topographical survey is a remarkable
achievement at such a late point in the poem. There are no digressions
to linger over, although there is one contrasting slow passage
(188-197), but it would take a special effort for me to read through
this song slowly. The verses, like the rapids of a river, tumble after
one another and drive me forward. Several rivers compete for the title
of first river of Lancashire, but their speeches are mainly surveys of
their tributaries. The concluding description (the
Isle of Man and the Furness area) is similarly rapid and multiple
(hills,
lakes, islands, wonders). |
| SONG 28 |
The breadth of Yorkshire is covered in (much, but) less
detail than some counties; however, this song is tightly organized on a
theme of "a mightie
King...Who hath Kings that attend": that is, the shire and its three
divisions,
the Ridings. West, North, and East ridings compete in surveys of
themselves,
and East is climactically interrupted by two rivers' orations: The Ouse
defends
the claims of the Dukes of York during the Wars of the Roses, and
Humber
expounds upon his status as king of all rivers north of the Trent. |
| SONG 29 |
As the Muse moves through Durham and Northumberland to the
Scottish border, she deals again with a kind of historical competition
that had not appeared since the First Part. As the British and Saxon
races boasted competitively and remembered their past battles, so at
this northern border the English representatives remember victories
over the Scots, with hints that (in songs yet to be composed)
personified Scottish places will remember their nation's ancestry and
victories over the English. After two rivers vie in boasts
historic and topographic, a third, the Tyne, warns that the rivers of
Scotland
grow proud and are preparing to attack (in song) those south of the
Tweed.
Therefore the Tyne strikes the first blow by recounting all the English
victories over Scots since the Norman Conquest. The hills of
Northumberland
catch up the cries of praise for this history and carry them by echoes
to
Scotland, where the Forth River is frightened and roused. Pictswall
(Hadrian's
Wall) asserts his antiquity and therefore his superiority over other
dikes,
as well as over "every petty Brooke" the Muse has given so much
attention
to. Several rivers rushing to the sea decide to meet at Holy Isle to
consider
how to defend themselves against the coming revenge of Forth. |
| SONG 30 |
Drayton makes a final statement of his Muse's reliance on
heavenly aid against boorish detractors as she comes to the last of the
English counties, Westmorland and Cumberland. A mostly topographical
survey begins in the
upper reaches of the River Eden, reminiscent of "imparazed ground."
Speeches
by three personified place-types stand out from the remaining survey:
Copeland Forest praises the rugged beauty of her environs. Mt. Skiddaw
boasts of
his height and tells of the distant places he can see. Finally, Eden
recalls
Roman builders of Pictswall, British (Kimbri) namesakes of Cumberland,
a
Stonehenge-like wonder the meaning of which has been lost in "darke
oblivion,"
and a round "rising Bank" called "Arthurs Table." Other streams then
join
Eden and "into the Sea doe fall." |